What do skateboarding and baked goods have in common with math? You can use them to connect half-pipe ramps and cakes to arcs and sectors. Pupils compare the lengths of three different ramp options of a skate park. They calculate the length of arcs to determine the total length of each ramp. Groups work to find the area cake slices and find where to cut the cake to cut each area in half.

Concepts

arc length, arcs, sectors, area of circles, circles, circumference, pythagorean theorem, skating

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Provide instruction on how to find arc lengths and areas of sectors
• Gather pictures of skate ramps to introduce the idea of determining the lengths of arcs

Classroom Considerations

• The class should be familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem

Pros

• Includes graphics to show the design of the ramps
• Contains several differentiation suggestions

Cons

• None

Common Core

HSG-C.B.5 MP1 MP4